Andrea DeBrino
Light & Wonder
“I was volunteering so much to help with recruitment efforts that I got to the point where I wondered, could I do this full time?”
Andrea DeBrino has been named to the Talent 100, Class of 2026, the annual award recognizing up to 100 leaders in each category of talent acquisition. Honorees are nominated by peers or found by committees that look for excellent work wherever it happens, then chosen for the depth of their craft and their impact on hiring. This is Andrea's story.
For Andrea DeBrino, Director, Talent Acquisition Enablement at Light & Wonder, recruiting was not the original plan.
Her professional career began at Deloitte, where she worked as an auditor and was midway through pursuing her CPA. She was strong in the role, and by every conventional measure she was on track. But another part of the business kept pulling at her attention: recruiting. The office she worked from lacked recruiting representation, so she stepped in wherever she could on a volunteer basis, helping support campus and talent initiatives while still carrying her full-time audit responsibilities.
Over time, that volunteer work began to feel less like an extra responsibility and more like a calling. "I was volunteering so much to help with recruitment efforts that I got to the point where I wondered, could I do this full time?"
No recruiting role was available at Deloitte at the time, but the company supported her involvement and encouraged her interest. Eventually she applied for a campus recruiter position with MGM Resorts International, where she was told outright that she had the least recruiting experience of any candidate in the process. She interviewed well enough that it did not matter, and she was given the opportunity.
Then came the trial by fire. Soon after she started, her leader went on maternity leave almost immediately, and DeBrino was left to run the work herself. "I had to figure it out all by myself," she recalls. That experience became a defining moment. From there she kept building, moving deeper into recruiting and talent leadership until she could no longer imagine doing anything else.
Returning to the Why
As talent acquisition continues evolving, DeBrino believes one of the most important things talent leaders can do is return to the basics. With AI dominating so many conversations heading into 2026, she is wary of leaders adopting technology simply because it is trendy. The better starting point is a deeper question: what are we actually trying to accomplish?
"If I'm thinking about redoing my entire candidate journey, what is it I'm actually trying to accomplish?"
The starting point, in other words, should not be where AI can be inserted. It should be the purpose behind the work. Whether the task is redesigning the candidate journey, evaluating interview processes, or improving recruiter workflows, she believes leaders need to understand the "why" before selecting the tool or the solution. That discipline is what allows talent teams to think more strategically about downstream impact, organizational alignment, and candidate experience.
Using AI With Intention
DeBrino recognizes that AI can create meaningful efficiencies, but she also believes talent leaders must be thoughtful about where and how it is applied. AI may return valuable time to recruiting teams, yet leaders still need to ask whether the candidate experience remains personalized, human, and valuable. If AI enters the interview process, the questions become sharper still: does it help candidates learn more about the company, feel nurtured, and leave the process with a better impression, even if they are not ultimately selected?
The goal, she argues, should never be efficiency for efficiency's sake. AI should help recruiters become more strategic partners. "It's about asking what capabilities you need to support what you're actually trying to do."
That perspective has become especially important in her current work in talent enablement, where she partners closely with talent acquisition leaders across the business. Her role requires helping those leaders think beyond their own business units and consider the broader company-wide impact of their talent decisions.
Thinking Beyond the Short Term
One of DeBrino's strongest pieces of advice for talent leaders is to resist thinking only in small pockets or short-term fixes. Many teams become misaligned, she believes, because they focus too heavily on immediate needs, trendy solutions, or isolated business unit priorities without considering the broader talent ecosystem. That short-term thinking has a cost: burnout, misalignment, and constant restructuring.
She encourages leaders to take a holistic view instead, and to sit with the harder questions. How can recruiters become the best of the best? How can the candidate experience become stronger? How can candidates leave the process better than they entered it, even if they are declined? How can talent acquisition align more closely with where the business is going? For DeBrino, these are the questions that matter most. "People tend to lose sight of the bigger picture and focus on the short term."
As AI and new technologies continue shaping the future of talent acquisition, she urges leaders to stay grounded in purpose. Before introducing a tool, redesigning a process, or pursuing a new trend, talent leaders should ask what problem they are truly solving and how the solution supports the organization, its recruiters, and its candidates. Her advice is clear: do not be afraid to push back, ask better questions, and look at the full picture. By combining strategic thinking, candidate-centered design, and a commitment to understanding the "why" behind every initiative, Andrea DeBrino represents the kind of talent leader prepared to help organizations navigate change with clarity and intention.
The Talent 100 exists to celebrate the people shaping the future of how the world hires, and few embody that better than Andrea. We are honored to welcome Andrea DeBrino to the Talent 100, Class of 2026, and grateful for the experience, perspective, and craft they bring to this community. Congratulations, Andrea. Welcome to the Talent 100.
About the Talent 100
The Talent 100 is an annual list spotlighting the leaders who push HR and talent acquisition forward, organized by Noon AI. Honorees are selected through peer nominations and independent selection committees. Selection is entirely merit-based, with no fees or pay-to-play requirements.
